Shorts (2009 film)
| Shorts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Written by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Produced by | Robert Rodriguez Elizabeth Avellán |
| Starring | Jimmy Bennett Kat Dennings Trevor Gagnon Jon Cryer Rebel Rodriguez Leslie Mann William H. Macy James Spader introducing: Jolie Vanier |
| Cinematography | Robert Rodriguez |
| Edited by | Ethan Maniquis Robert Rodriguez |
| Music by | George Oldziey Robert Rodriguez Carl Thiel |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date | August 21, 2009 |
Running time | 89 min. |
| Country | United States United Arab Emirates |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $25,747,167[1] |
Shorts (also known as Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock poster title) is a 2009 family comedy/adventure film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It was released in the United States on August 21, 2009.[2] A Nintendo DS video game of the same name was announced on June 23, 2009, with a prospective July release date in advance of the movie.[3]
Plot
The Plot is put into "a series of shorts" shown in non-chronological order.
Episode Zero
The Blinkers
Characters: Eddie and Betty
The movie starts before the logo with a pair of twins (Cambell Westmoreland and Zoe Webb) who decide to have a staring contest. The game continues throughout the course of the movie as a running gag. Both brother and sister lose because their mom snapped her fingers in front of their faces, causing both to blink at the same time. As they wondered who won the game they began a new round, which starts the logo and begins the film.
Episode Two
Alien8ed
Character: Toby "Toe" Thompson
Toby "Toe" Thompson (Jimmy Bennett) begins telling the story from his point of view and explaining The Black Box Inc, where all the adults work. It is this company that creates the "Black Box", a small cube that can fill any technological need and which every adult at Black Falls works at. Toe goes to school only to be bullied by his worst enemy Helvetica "Hel" Black (Jolie Vanier) and her brother Cole (Devon Gearhart). Toe speculates in front of everyone that Hel loves him, which infuriates Hel. As Toe walks home Cole and his gang start throwing rocks at Toe, one of which is the rainbow colored wishing rock. Toe wishes for friends which come in the form of small aliens. Toe takes the aliens to school, which leads to a series of events ending with Toe and Hel falling from the school's roof with broken arms. The aliens leave, but Toe keeps the rock. One alien says Toe has friends all around, but he doesn't know it.
Episode One
The Wishing Rock
Characters: Loogie, Laser and Lug Short.
The Wishing Rock appears for the first time in front of the Short's House. The three brothers Loogie (Trevor Gagnon), Laser (Leo Howard), and Lug (Rebel Rodriguez) use the rock to wish for a giant fort. The brothers start an argument on who gets to wish for something and the rock ends up falling into the fort's "canyon", which Loogie filled with snakes and alligators. The brothers escape with the rock and try to decide what to do with it. Lug and Loogie prefer to use it for fun, but Laser wants to use it wisely. To solve the dilemma, Loogie wishes for one of the boys to be super smart, but the power is instead given to their infant sister (portrayed by Bianca Rodriguez and voiced by Elizabeth Avellan) who convinces the boys to lose the rock into a pile of dirt, where Cole finds it the next day to throw it at Toe.
Episode Four
Big, Bad, Booger
Characters: Nose, Toe and Loogie
Toe's older sister Stacy (Kat Dennings) arrives to tutor "Nose" Noseworthy (Jake Short), Toe's old germaphobic friend. Nose picks his nose against his father's wishes and accidentally flicks the booger into his father's radioactive work study. Toe and Loogie, now friends, arrive at Nose's house in time to see Nose's booger mutate into a giant monster. They leave as quickly as possible, but Toe gets caught by the booger, and nose rescues him by saying that if the booger should eat his friend that he will eat his (A different booger), and the two run out of the house as soon as the booger mutant gives in to nose's commands. After helping Nose's father (William H. Macy) capture the monster outside of the house, Toe and Loogie take the rock and leave.
Episode Three
The Miscommunicators
Characters: Mrs. Thompson, Mr. Thompson
Mrs. and Mr. Thompson (Leslie Mann and Jon Cryer) are having trouble with their relationship, as Mr. Carbon Black (James Spader) forces them to compete in making a new sales idea for the black box. Mrs. Thompson goes to look at Toe's phone, and finds the rock on the floor in his room. She takes the rock just as Toe wakes up. She and Mr. Thompson go to a Black Box Inc. costume party. While on the patio of Mr. Black's house, she wishes that she and her husband were closer, due to the fact that earlier, Mr. Thompson texted her hugs and kisses, while literally standing right next to her. They become mutated together into a two-headed person and try to hide from Mr. Black. He finds them and invites them inside (thinking they're wearing a costume). Meanwhile, Toe realizes that Mrs. Thompson took the rock and rushes to the costume party, despite Helvetica warning him against coming. Hel finds the rock as Toe arrives to try and explain its power. Toe is interrupted by Cole, who dumps him in the garbage. An infuriated Hel wishes Cole into a dung beetle before losing the rock. The rock is found by Mr. Black who, unaware of its power, accidentally wishes for all of the employees to go for each others throats. In the chaos, Toe retrieves the Rock and wishes everyone back to normal including his parents. Hel takes the stone, wishes off her casts and escapes before Toe throws the rock as far as he can, where it lands at the Noseworth's house.
Episode Five
The End
Characters: Everybody
After the events of episode 4, Toe and Loogie contemplate what to do with the rock. They are ambushed by the rest of the kids and they all fight over the rock until it winds up in the hands of Mr. Black. Mr. Black wishes that he was the most powerful thing in the world. He turns into a giant Black Box and the children team up to stop him. Soon, the infant tells them that the rock is starting to feel misused, as shown by the fact that the rock starts undoing all of their wishes. She also tells them the rock could destroy the Earth because of all of the petty wishes they make. Together they get rid of it and all of the events that happened because of the wishes disappear. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson state they plan to work together to Mr. Black who agrees. He later reverts the Black Box into the Green Box, suggesting it to be more environmental. Mr. Noseworthy and son lose their germaphobia, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson become closer, and last it is suggested that Hel and Toe will marry in the future. All the children become friends and walk off while stating they wished their story became a Hollywood movie, breaking the 4th wall and concluding the movie.
Cast
- Jimmy Bennett as Toby "Toe" Thompson, the main character and narrator of the film who also may have a crush on his bully, Helvetica as she does with him.
- Jon Cryer as Mr. Bill Thompson, Toe's father and distant from his wife, with one noticeable action of texting xoxo to his wife, while they were in the same room.
- Leslie Mann as Mrs. Jane Thompson, Toe's mother who wishes that her husband and her would become closer.
- William H. Macy as Dr. Noseworthy, a germaphobic scientists who ironically works with germs. After suffering a meltdown, he does all of his work at home which he has completely sealed and only leaves in a radiation suit.
- James Spader as Mr. Carbon Black, a power hungry man who is the CEO of the company and runs the town with many of the buildings named Black. He is also a bit of an idiot, pitting Bob and Jane against each other to improve the Black Box and threatened the loser that them and their family would be fired and kicked out of town, even though Jane and Bob are married.
- Kat Dennings as Stacey Thompson, Toe's stuck up sister. She recently broke up with her boyfriend since he wouldn't grow up. She tutors Nose and Loogie has a crush on her.
- Trevor Gagnon as Loogie Short, the boy who found the wishing rock in the first place. He wanted to use it solely for fun but since he was always extremely vague with his wishes they always turned out horrible.
- Devon Gearhart as Cole Black, son of Carbon and stereotypical brainless jock. He is captain of the football team.
- Rebel Rodriguez as Lug Short, Loogie's older brother.
- Leo Howard as Laser Short, Loogie's older brother.
- Jake Short as "Nose" Noseworthy, a germaphobe like his father Dr. Noseworthy yet has a habit of picking his nose and eating the booger, even though his father repeatedly tells him not to. He used to be friends with Toe until his father had the meltdown. He was so scared of germs he didn't even breathe while he was outside.
- Jolie Vanier as Helvetica Black , daughter to Carbon. She has a great fascination with female wasps, mainly by the fact of their domination over the males. She wears braces like Toe, who she regularly bullies, however because of this Toe believes she does this because she actually has a crush on him.This is hinted throughout the movie to be true(such as when everyone has to hold hands toward the end of the film,she walks over to Toby so she will be forced to hold his hand). She is very talented with her toes, able to use them to handle a spoon and eat.
- Racer Rodriguez as Bully #1
- Rocket Rodriguez as Bully #2
Sequel
It was announced on January 1, 2010 that a sequel to the movie Shorts would be filmed in 2010 and released in 2011. It will be called Shorts 2: A Not So Small Tale and casting Sam Hildestad as Lucas Thompson, Toby's cousin who comes to stay who apparently has the wishing rock with him.
Reception
Reviews for the film have been mixed. The film currently holds a rating of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a Top Critics rating of 56% and an RT Community rating of 36%.[4]
For its opening weekend, the film made $6,410,339 upon an average of $2,065 from 3,105 theaters. It opened at #6, being overshadowed by Inglourious Basterds, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and Julie & Julia. Overall, the film was a minor success at the box office, grossing about $21 million in the United States and Canada, and about $26 million worldwide. It is considered a financial disappointment compared to other films that Robert Rodriguez has directed, making only a third of what the Spy Kids films had made. However, the film was made on a low budget, and the overall box office return recouped it and made a huge profit for distributor Warner Bros.